April 2021 Lore Entry

Hello Fellow Trappers!

As we await the highly anticipated April release, let's check out some of the lore!

Vile Blossom

Vibrantly glowing vegetation and a trail of entrails heralds the nearby presence of the Vilebloom. Known by local jungle tribes as Vy’natuunotv, or “Blooming Dragon of Madness'', this Lesser Dragon brings death and insanity. Vileblooms breathe a violet fog that kills vegetation and poisons the mind of creatures to go into a mad frenzy, attacking anything within sight until they drop dead. These creatures are twisted, with their minds barely able to handle their own mad toxins that they produce, causing them to become frenzied as well. However, they usually wait until other creatures are finished attacking each other as the vilebloom finds its prey more tender this way. If you aren’t hit by it’s mad breath, then watch out for it’s bone-piercing teeth and flesh-tearing claws. Your best strategy to take them down is spread out and surround it, so it can’t hit multiple targets with its breath attack. It has no feeling on its back, so landing on top of it and performing a fatal attack to the nape where the flower meets the neck may kill it. Otherwise, maintaining ranged attacks prove to be effective if you can last a long battle.

Beetle Hulk

Though intimidating at first glance, these bulky bugs from Letonas Jungles are actually quite passive creatures. Observations have shown that their fearsome strength and appearance naturally wards off other predators; If they’re still provoked, they rub their abdomen to create a terrifying hissing screech to further scare off threats. The Beetle Hulks are known to be expert diggers, having burrowed beneath dense vegetation to remain hidden from sight. In fact, the most common time you’ll see one is when the male hulks can be seen fighting in clearings to decide who is worthy of a mate as a proof of strength and providing protection. If you are caught in the middle of a fight, or if they believe you pose a threat to their burrow-horde, your best strategy is to run. We recommend avoiding combat against such peaceful creatures and if it can’t be avoided, use ranged attacks against their legs and in between their armor in the fleshy areas.

The Jungle Griffin

Elegant is but one word to describe this creature. While the Vilebloom is regarded as the most bloodthirsty predator in the jungle, the Jungle Griffin is seen as a good omen sent from the Gods. Most of the tribes within the jungle make common pilgrimages to the top of the gargantuan prismatree and make offerings to the Jungle Griffin in order to receive blessings from their deities. If they do not bring offerings often, the Jungle Griffin will snatch a villager and drop them from the top of the village tree. While the local tribes see it as punishment for ignoring their deities, the Lodge has discovered that the Jungle Griffin is in fact quite intelligent and cheeky in personality. It enjoys being pampered and worshipped by the tribes and knows that it can toy with others to get what it wants, such as imitating several voices to portray several deities. The best strategy to use against them is the use of pheromone traps to lure them below the canopy, making flight more difficult and using grappling devices or nets to capture it.

Flying Raptors

Commonly called “Death Divers”, the Flying Raptor is regarded as one of the most intelligent and deadly predators within the region of Letona. Residing upon the high cliffs of the sprawling dense jungle, these creatures create nests with other flying raptors to increase protection and develop a community. They are superior communicators amongst each other and have earned their title by spotting their prey below and diving at great speed to attack. Their unique claws on their wings allows them to effectively eviscerate their prey mid-flight. If the prey manages to dodge the initial attack, they won’t be running for long as the raptors can communicate to pursue and corner their quarry. It’s been discerned that the best way to deal with Flying Raptor’s is to set traps in the nest while they're gone on the hunt and ambush them on their return. Recently, a few Trappers have managed to capture and tame these creatures to use as mounts.

Glork the Soarog

These multi-colored flying frog-like creatures can be seen populating the branches within the jungles upper canopy. They are frail yet nimble and mobile creatures, so they are quite able to flee any dangerous situation. They have a thin mucus they can excrete on their body at will that causes intense hallucinations and nausea. Some species, such as the Axolotii are immune to the effects. Soarogs are very peaceful and mindful creatures, often known to be even quite playful. If you make a friend of an Soarog, you become friends for life.

Yahni

Yahni is of a very rare race called Axolotii. In fact, they are so rare that Yahni has no memory of a home or family. He grew up befriending and learning with other types of fauna to develop his own skills from local languages to hunting techniques. He discovered that he has incredible regenerative capabilities, which led to him becoming quite reckless when hunting. He would be able to regenerate limbs within days, so he didn’t mind taking on a nest Flying Raptors in order to protect a helpless Soarog. Later, his recklessness almost cost him his life when he got trapped in quicksand and was thankfully saved by the same Soarog he saved. The two of them quickly got along and Yahni named his newfound friend, Glork. Yahni learned he shouldn’t act so recklessly and instead use his skills to help other creatures in need; He knew if he proved that other creatures can work together, then there would be significantly less danger throughout the world. Yahni and Glork ran into some members of the Lodge, proposed his ideals, proved his skills and immediately got accepted. He earned the title of Veteran after aiding various tribes of the jungle and guiding them to protect the creatures within.

Cuoxy

In the heart of the Letona Jungle, within the native Narxi tribal village of Sar’ghuun, Cuoxy was born and raised. In order to survive growing up in the jungle, each native endures many tribulations to rise to the top of the food chain within the local ecosystem. Cuoxy had a fiery personality and wasn’t afraid to take on a challenge. She proved herself a capable warrior by successfully leading a warband to ambush a den of Flying Raptors-- their feeble attempts at retaliation were no match against her sharp wits and sharper arrows. However, upon returning to her village, she came to find a Vilebloom had wiped out most of their home. The only reason there were any survivors is because The Lodge had arrived and chased the Vilebloom away. Cuoxy was impressed at the strength and camaraderie these outsiders had displayed, and requested to join among their ranks. She aided in the pursuit of the vilebloom and got her revenge, claiming the skull as her trophy.

Kaeng

Kaeng hailed from the Vanaran treetop kingdom of Trongo that guards the outskirts of the jungle. He had spent years fighting the variety of dangerous creatures lurking within, taking home several trophies to build his collection. However, his greatest enemy he could not yet defeat was boredom. He needed a challenge; He needed to fight something strong and knew that facing the strongest insect around would be fulfilling. Of course he knew about the passive nature of Beetle Hulks but that didn’t stop him from wanting to provoke a fight for his own entertainment. Brash and impulsive, yet strong and formidable, Kaeng managed to slay the Beetle Hulk alone in an exhausting, yet self-fulfilling battle. Kaeng soon found that he was surrounded by an angry burrow-horde of Beetle Hulk. Fear ran down his spine and he instantly regretted his decision but it was too late; They attacked and Kaeng was quickly overwhelmed, passing out and nearly dying in the process. Luckily, the Lodge had shown up to ward off the burrow-horde and save Kaeng. Kaeng recovered and joined the Lodge as repayment, swearing to never attack peaceful creatures alone and deciding to use his strength to take out real threats alongside his new comrades. He eventually became known as one of the most humble Trappers within the Lodge.

Matu Matu

Hailing from the Letona jungle village of Prismatuu near the largest prismatree, Matu Matu is a Tikuu Jade Fist Monk. He grew up within their Jade Temple built at the base of the prismatree and spent several decades dedicated to deities and training to defend the village. However, his faith wavered after the Jungle Griffin killed his brother, despite making a humble offering. He snuck up the prismatree to see that the creature was repeating phrases over and over while making a mess of the offerings made earlier. He realized the creature was simply using the village for its own benefit and knew he had to find a way to stop it. Matu Matu had left the village to find outside help and discovered a Lodge forward camp where he met Yahni. Yahni said he would help his tribe if Matu Matu joined the Lodge in return, to which he agreed. Yahni then proposed a way to lure the Jungle Griffin down and expose its true animalistic nature by setting up a pheromone trap. The Jungle Griffin fell for the bait, thinking it was alone and started acting erratic and angry instead of calm and graceful as it was going mad searching for the scents origin. The villagers of Prismatuu were embarrassed upon seeing the creature act in this way and realized how blind they were to its true nature. After the Lodge captured it, Matu Matu convinced the villagers to change their way of life and live without fear of being used. He then packed his belongings and went off to be with the Lodge as he had agreed to do.